A Ukrainian mother’s desperate plea for her children to join her in the UK after the Home Office refused

A Ukrainian refugee says she is living in a “surreal nightmare” after being refused permission to bring her two children to the UK.

Pressure is growing on ministers to open a path to family reunification for Ukrainians with temporary immigration status after rules changed without warning in February. Charities say the Home Office’s “restrictive rules and poor decision-making” are “tearing families apart”.

Maria Kondratska, who arrived in Britain just months before Russia’s full-scale invasion, is now appealing on human rights grounds after the Home Office rejected her request to grant her son and daughter, aged 11 and 15, refuge with her in Britain .

Ms. Kondratska arrived on a seasonal worker visa and applied for her children to join her as part of Ukraine’s now-defunct family program. They live with their grandparents near the border with Belarus. Her efforts are made more difficult by the fact that she lives in a shared apartment and cannot sponsor her children.

But the 35-year-old described being “gone crazy with hopelessness” as she waits for a judge to decide whether she can appeal the Home Office’s rejection in August 2023 – as she remains in constant fear for her safety children lives.

While the Home Office insists she has no right to appeal, the charity Safe Passage has helped Ms Kondratska challenge this in the Court’s courts on human rights grounds. Her most recent appeal, filed in April, was finally granted last week.

The day Ms. Kondratska made contact The IndependentAfter a Russian attack, the electricity in the town of Kovel, where her children live, was cut, leaving her unable to contact them. Power supplies remain unstable and the city remains under an air raid warning, Ms. Kondratska said.

“I regularly wake up in nightmares and worry about my children,” she said, adding: “I have a simple, basic desire: to finally hug my children and be with them, to know that they are safe … At the moment I am not living – I exist in waiting.”

Ms Kondratska said her elderly parents’ physical health had also deteriorated, making them less able to care for their children.

The mother, who suffers from osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, said the stress of the situation is affecting her ability to retain information and concentrate as she tries to learn English in order to earn enough money to rent a suitable house is intended to serve as a home. Ukraine sponsors its children.

But even if she has found accommodation that meets eligibility rules, she now fears the route has been completely closed after changes introduced overnight by Rishi Sunak’s government banned Ukrainians without British citizenship or indefinite leave to remain as sponsors.

The Independent has highlighted several cases where Ukrainian refugees have been refused permission to bring their children to the UK as a result of the changes. While the Interior Ministry made a U-turn in the case of a toddler in July, many other families remain separated.

This was announced by Safe Passage International, one of several charities that provide free legal advice to Ukrainians in the UK The Independent in July that it was assisting 84 separated Ukrainian families who had sought help since the rules changed on February 19.

Of these, 16 cases involved families where at least one parent was either separated from their children or was forced to return to Ukraine or Poland to be with their children and then was unable to return to the UK.

Regarding Ms. Kondratska’s case, the charity’s executive director, Dr. Wanda Wyporska: “This terrible decision by the Interior Ministry will deprive children in a war zone of the chance to be safe here with their mother.” A heartbroken mother has been denied the opportunity to appeal the cruel decision.”

“The Home Office’s restrictive rules and poor decision-making have condemned too many families to a life of separation, tearing families apart and keeping children away from their families,” Dr. Vyporska.

“This government can quickly change the rules to keep families escaping relentless war together. The government must open a route to family reunification for Ukrainians with temporary residency status in the UK. Without her, the families and children we work with are at risk of being separated for an indefinite period of time.”

The Interior Ministry said it would not comment on individual cases.

This was previously said by Labor colleague Lord Alf Dubs, who came to Great Britain as a six-year-old fleeing the Nazis The Independent The “deeply shocking” rule change in February “betrays our commitment to Ukrainians.”

“It is urgent because some of these cases are very difficult cases,” he said. “And I really hope that the new ministers will deal with this very quickly.”